Transactions using a bluetooth low energy beacon

ABSTRACT

A BLUETOOTH low energy mobile payments system may comprise a BLE beacon that is deployed at a merchant location. The BLE beacon may be associated with a specific merchant terminal. The BLE beacon may be configured to broadcast a unique beacon ID that is detectable by a user device. The user device may be configured to communicate the beacon ID to a payment system. In response to receiving the beacon ID, the user device may initiate a payment between a user and a merchant, via a user device and a merchant terminal.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, claims priority to and thebenefit of, U.S. Ser. No. 14/469,230, filed Aug. 26, 2014, entitled“SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A BLUETOOTH LOW ENERGY MOBILE PAYMENTSYSTEM,” the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety for all purposes.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to facilitating mobile payments, and morespecifically, to systems and methods for creating a mobile paymentsystem using BLUETOOTH low energy beacons.

BACKGROUND

Payment processing, point of sale devices, and payment capture systemsare evolving. Some recent payment acquisition technologies have usednear field communication, which includes communication protocols thatallow user devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets) with appropriatecommunication equipment to communicate with point of sale devices.However, not all smartphones are equipped with NFC communicationcapabilities such as, for example, the iPhone®. Moreover, NFCcommunication protocols require a tap or bump by the smartphone to thepoint of sale device making it inconvenient for some users.

SUMMARY

A system, method, and computer readable medium (collectively, the“System”) for facilitating wireless payments may comprise operationsand/or steps performed by a computer based system including: receiving abeacon identifier associated with a Bluetooth low energy (“BLE”) beacon,and a customer identifier from a user device. The user device may bewithin a defined distance from the BLE beacon. The System may alsoinclude transmitting, to the user device, merchant informationassociated with the BLE beacon. The system may also includetransmitting, to a merchant terminal, a request to make a payment from auser associated with the user device, and an image of the user. TheSystem may include initiating a transaction based on transactioninformation received from a merchant. The transaction information mayinclude a preliminary transaction amount. The System may also includereceiving, from the user device, a user confirmation to authorize thetransaction and a transaction amount.

In various embodiments, the transaction amount may be the preliminarytransaction amount as modified by the user. The transaction informationmay include item information. The BLE beacon may be connected to amicro-registry.

In various embodiments, the user device may comprise an application. Theapplication may be configured to recognize the BLE beacon and to createinstructions for the request to make a payment. The BLE beacon may bedetected by the user device. In response to the user device detectingthe BLE beacon, the application may be automatically initiated. Thesystem may also include receiving a merchant confirmation to confirm thetransaction and the transaction amount.

The forgoing features and elements may be combined in variouscombinations without exclusivity, unless expressly indicated hereinotherwise. These features and elements as well as the operation of thedisclosed embodiments will become more apparent in light of thefollowing description and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter of the present disclosure is particularly pointed outand distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. Amore complete understanding of the present disclosure, however, may beobtained by referring to the detailed description and claims whenconsidered in connection with the drawing figures, wherein like numeralsdenote like elements.

FIG. 1A illustrates various exemplary modules and/or components for apayment system, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 1B illustrates a BLUETOOTH low energy mobile payment systemdeployed at a merchant location with an associated merchant terminal, inaccordance with various embodiments; and

FIG. 2 is a process flow for operating a BLUETOOTH low energy mobilepayment system, in accordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description of exemplary embodiments herein makes referenceto the accompanying drawings and pictures, which show variousembodiments by way of illustration. While these various embodiments aredescribed in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the disclosure, it should be understood that other embodimentsmay be realized and that logical and mechanical changes may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, thedetailed description herein is presented for purposes of illustrationonly and not of limitation. For example, the steps recited in any of themethod or process descriptions may be executed in any order and are notlimited to the order presented. Moreover, any of the functions or stepsmay be outsourced to or performed by one or more third parties.Furthermore, any reference to singular includes plural embodiments, andany reference to more than one component may include a singularembodiment.

In various embodiments, and with reference to FIG. 1A, a payment system100 may comprise a payment processing module 110, a user account system120, and a merchant account system 130. Payment processing module 110may be configured to receive requests, and/or initiate transactionsbetween users and merchants. Payment processing module 110 may process,analyze, and/or otherwise execute the transactions causing monetaryvalue to be transferred from the user to the merchant. Paymentprocessing module 110 may be operatively coupled to and in electroniccommunication with user account system 120. User account system 120 maybe any suitable system configured to manage user accounts. In thisregard, user account system 120 may be any suitable bank, credit card ortransaction account provider, and/or the like. User account system 120may also be a portion of a stored value transaction account system.Merchant account system 130 may be any system (or portion of any system)that is configured to manage merchant transaction accounts. In thisregard, merchant account system 130 may be configured to receive funds,money, credit and/or the like from user account system 120, in responseto payment processing module 110 receiving transaction information.

In various embodiments, system 100 may further comprise a user gateway140 and/or a merchant gateway 150. User gateway 140 may be configured toprovide access for a user to payment processing module 110. Similarly,merchant gateway 150 may be configured to provide access for a merchantto payment processing module 110.

In various embodiments, and with reference to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, amerchant may provide and/or deploy a beacon 160. The beacon may bedeployed at or near a merchant terminal 155. The beacon may beconfigured to broadcast a unique beacon identifier (“ID”). The beacon IDmay be stored in system 100. Moreover, the beacon ID may be associatedwith a specific merchant, a specific merchant terminal 155, a particularmerchant location, and/or the like. User device 145 may be configured todetect, monitor, and/or receive a transmission from BLE beacon 160.Transmission 165 may include the beacon ID. Examples of using BLEbeacons, proximity based communications and dynamic proximity basede-commerce transactions, along with additional features and functionsmay be found in, for example, U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/339,284 filed on Jul. 23, 2014 and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORPROXIMITY BASED COMMUNICATION” and U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/284,817 filed on May 22, 2014 and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORDYNAMIC PROXIMITY BASED E-COMMERCE TRANSACTIONS”, which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety for any purpose.

In various embodiments, the beacon ID may comprise a globally uniqueidentifier (“GUID”). The GUID may be an identifier created and/orimplemented under the universally unique identifier standard. Moreover,the GUID may be stored as 128-bit value that can be displayed as 32hexadecimal digits. The identifier may also include a major number, anda minor number. The major number and minor number may each be 16 bitintegers. The unique combinations of major numbers and minor number maybe assigned to BLE beacons and/or associated locations. As such, theidentifier received by the user device and provided to the microregistry may be associated with a particular micro-location.

As used herein, a “micro-location” of a user may comprise a location ofa user in relation to any energy consuming device. For example, theenergy consuming device may comprise a high, medium, and/or low energyconsuming device and/or any combination thereof. For example, the energyconsuming device may be a low power and/or low energy consuming device.Such a device may be a BLUETOOTH device, such as a wireless beaconcommunicating using a low power or low energy BLUETOOTH communicationstandard (a “BLUETOOTH low energy beacon” or simply, a “BLE beacon”).However, in various embodiments, any type of low energy consuming devicemay be implemented with the systems described herein. For example, invarious embodiments, any device (including any other BLE beacon) capableof communicating with a web-client and/or any other BLE beacon withinthree hundred meters of a BLE beacon may comprise a low energy consumingdevice. Thus, although the phrase “BLE beacon” is used herein withparticular respect to a BLUETOOTH low energy consuming device, a BLEbeacon may comprise any energy consuming device capable of communicationwith a web-client. In various embodiments, the low energy consumingdevice may capable of communication with a web-client to withinapproximately three hundred meters or less—that is, any device capableof communicating with a web-client within a micro-location of theweb-client. As described above, a low energy consuming device (e.g., BLEbeacon 150) may comprise any device capable of transmitting and/orreceiving a signal wirelessly using a low power or low energy connectionto a network. In various embodiments, such a signal may comprise aBLUETOOTH signal. A BLUETOOTH signal may comprise and/or utilize one ormore internet protocol (“IP”) session connections. The IP sessionconnections may enable a variety of piconet communication technologies.In various embodiments, particularly with regard IP version 6, acryptographic key exchange protocol (symmetric and/or asymmetric) may beimplemented. For example, a key management device may utilize IEEEStandard 1363.1-2013 for identity based cryptographic techniques thatutilize pairings such that an encryption key may comprise one or moreplain text strings (such as one or more email addresses).

Although the term “BLE beacon” is used herein in association with aBLUETOOTH communication protocol and/or signal, the phrase may refer toany communication protocol and/or any other “low energy” signal. As usedherein, a “low energy signal” may comprise any signal capable of beingreceived by a web-client within a range of approximately three hundredmeters or less. In various embodiments, a BLE beacon may enable thediscovery of a micro-location of a user. A micro-location may compriseany location of the user within, for example, user within a defineddistance such as, within any suitable distance such as, for example, 10meters to 10 centimeters of a BLE beacon.

The BLE beacons may be deployed in various physical locations including,for example, brick and mortar merchant locations. A merchant may use athird party service host to facilitate interactions between the merchantand the user. In this regard, the micro registry may help merchantsengage users seamlessly, without regard to the service host employed bythe merchant, because the service host will be seamlessly and instantlyaccessible through the micro registry. Moreover, the micro registry mayreduce fragmentation of mobile and/or geo-location services.

As e-commerce and digital activities grow and the boundaries of thevirtual marketplace and virtual world disappear, consumers are lookingfor ways to more easily conduct transactions, connect with merchants,obtain information about items, initiate transactions to make purchases,receive rewards, reverse items and/or the like. Providing a network thatfacilitates interactions between various service hosts, merchants,loyalty programs, acquirers, transaction account issuers, points ofsale, payment services and/or the like allows the user to seamlesslyconnect with the merchant. This network also minimizes and/or eliminatesthe fragmentation that may occur, where service hosts are not accessibleon the same network.

Phrases and terms similar to “business,” “service host” or “merchant”may be used interchangeably with each other and shall mean any person,entity, distributor system, software and/or hardware that is a provider,broker and/or any other entity in the distribution chain of goods orservices. In this regard, the “business,” “service host” or “merchant”may facilitate a real world or virtual interaction, transaction,exchange of information between a supplier of an item and a user. Thisinteraction or transaction may be trigger by a service request from auser in a micro registry.

In various embodiments, user device 145 may comprise a merchantapplication. The merchant application may be any suitable applicationconfigured to complete a payment with the merchant. User device 145 mayalso be configured to automatically detect transmission 165 from BLEbeacon 160. In response to detecting transmission 165, user device 145may automatically launch the merchant application.

In various embodiments, and with reference to FIGS. 1A-1B and FIG. 2,user device 145 may be capable of capturing a beacon ID associated withBLE beacon 160 in transmission 165. User device 145 may be capable ofproviding the beacon ID to system 100. Moreover, user device 145 may beconnected to system 100. System 100 may be configured to receive abeacon ID associated with the BLE beacon and a customer and/or useridentifier from user device 145 (step 210).

In various embodiments, user device 145 and/or system 100 may beconfigured to analyze transmission 165 from BLE beacon 160. Thisanalysis may allow user device 145 and/or system 100 to determine thedistance between user device 145 and BLE beacon 160. This distance mayalso be correlated to and/or may inform system 100, user device 145,merchant terminal 155, and/or the merchant of the user's proximity tothe merchant terminal based on the user's proximity to BLE beacon 160.The distance may be determined by the signal strength that anapplication operating on user device 145 receives from BLE beacon 160.This signal strength may be translated to a distance. If there issomething between BLE beacon 160 and user device 145 (e.g., a casingunit around BLE beacon 160 where it is integrated into merchant terminal155) the signal strength may be reduced. As such, the system 100 may beadapted to accommodate any potential interference. For example, inoperation user device 145 may need to be a pre-defined distance from BLEbeacon 160 to initiate a payment. User device 145 and/or the merchantapp operating on user device 145 may be configured with and/or capableof determining that pre-defined distance. The pre-defined distance maybe for example, any suitable distance between 0 cm and 30 cm.Preferably, the predefined distance may be 0 cm to 20 cm. Morepreferably, the predefined distance may be 0 cm to 10 cm. Still morepreferably, the predefined distance may be 0 cm to 5 cm.

In various embodiments, system 100 may transmit to user device 145merchant information associated with BLE beacon 160. In this regard,system 100 may access a look-up table, micro-registry, and/or the liketo determine the particular merchant location, payment terminal,micro-location, and/or the like associated with BLE beacon 160. Thesystem 100 may quickly or substantially in real time, and in response toreceiving the beacon ID and customer identifier, transmit merchantinformation to user device 145. Examples of a micro-registry and relatedsystems may be found in, for example, U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/454,452 filed on Aug. 7, 2014 and entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FORPROVIDING A MICRO REGISTRY,” which is incorporated herein by reference.

In various embodiments, user device 145 and/or merchant terminal 155 maybe passive. User device 145 and/or merchant terminal 155 may beconfigured to receive “push” messages from system 100 and/or merchantterminal 155. In this regard, user device 145 and/or merchant terminal155 may passively wait for system 100. For example, user device 145 mayhave an amount on it, and the user may add, adjust, and/or include a tipin the amount. User device 145 may then confirm payment with system 100.User device 145 may call and/or transmit a confirmation to system 100.System 100 may then find merchant terminal 155, and perform a “push”down to merchant terminal 155. In this regard, merchant terminal 155 isnot polling the payment system 100 to see if it has any messages thatrequire action by merchant terminal 155.

In various embodiments, and in substantially real time and/orconcurrently with the transmission of the beacon of the merchantinformation to user device 145, system 100 may transmit to merchantterminal 155 a request to make a payment from a user associated withuser device 145 and an image of the user (Step 230). In this regard,system 100 may be capable of and/or may facilitate identification of theuser associated with user device 145 via merchant terminal 155. System100 may be configured to provide any suitable particularly identifyinginformation about the user. For example, system 100 may provide an imageof the user, a physical description of the user, and/or any othersuitable identifying information. In this regard, an associate workingfor a merchant (e.g., an employee) operating merchant terminal 155 maybe capable of determining that user associated with user device 145 issufficiently close to merchant terminal 155 to make a payment. Moreover,particularly identifying a user may allow a merchant associate tofacilitate payment by a particular user where there are multiple userswith multiple user devices 145.

In various embodiments, system 100 may receive transaction detailsand/or transaction information from merchant terminal 155. Thisinformation may include, for example, a transaction amount, one or moreitems associated with the transaction, and/or any other suitableinformation including merchant information, manufacturer information,item information, and/or the like. In response to receiving thistransaction information from the merchant and/or merchant terminal 155,system 100 may initiate a transaction based on the transactioninformation received from a merchant (step 240).

In various embodiments, system 100 may receive from user device 145 auser confirmation to authorize the transaction and/or a transactionamount (Step 250). System 100 may be configured to transmit to userdevice 145, preliminary transaction information including a preliminarytransaction amount. A user associated with user device 145 may beconfigured to modify that transaction amount and/or adjust thattransaction amount to provide for example, a gratuity, a tip and/or thelike. In this regard, the user may adjust the preliminary transactionamount to provide a transaction amount.

In various embodiments, system 100 may also receive a merchantconfirmation to confirm the transaction and the transaction amount (Step260). For example, system 100 may transmit to merchant terminal 155 thetransaction amount as modified and/or confirmed by the user. System 100may further request that the merchant confirm the modified and/or userconfirmed transaction amount via merchant terminal 150. In this regard,the confirmation process may allow a merchant to distribute a tip and/orgratuity to a merchant associate (e.g., an employee) or otherwisemaintain accurate records of the various transactions the merchantconducts.

Terms and phrases similar to “associate” and/or “associating” mayinclude tagging, flagging, correlating, using a look-up table or anyother method or system for indicating or creating a relationship betweenelements, such as, for example, (i) a transaction account and (ii) anitem (e.g., offer, reward, discount) (iii) a digital channel, (iv) aservice request, (v) a service host, and/or the like. Moreover, theassociating may occur at any point, in response to any suitable action,event, or period of time. The associating may occur at pre-determinedintervals, periodic, randomly, once, more than once, or in response to asuitable request or action.

Terms and phases similar to “consumer,” “customer,” “user,” “accountholder,” “account affiliate,” “cardmember,” or the like shall includeany person, entity, business, government organization, business,software, hardware, machine associated with a transaction account, thatbuys merchant offerings offered by one or more merchants using theaccount and/or that is legally designated for performing transactions onthe account, regardless of whether a physical card is associated withthe account. For example, the cardmember may include a transactionaccount owner, a transaction account user, an account affiliate, a childaccount user, a subsidiary account user, a beneficiary of an account, acustodian of an account, and/or any other person or entity affiliated orassociated with a transaction account.

Phrases and terms similar to “account”, “account number”, “account code”or “consumer account” as used herein, may include any device, code(e.g., one or more of an authorization/access code, personalidentification number (“PIN”), Internet code, other identification code,and/or the like), number, letter, symbol, digital certificate, smartchip, digital signal, analog signal, biometric or otheridentifier/indicia suitably configured to allow the consumer to access,interact with or communicate with the system. The account number mayoptionally be located on or associated with a rewards account, chargeaccount, credit account, debit account, prepaid account, telephone card,embossed card, smart card, magnetic stripe card, bar code card,transponder, radio frequency card or an associated account.

In various embodiments, a transaction account may be may include anyaccount that may be used to facilitate a financial transactionincluding, for example, a charge account, a credit account, a bankaccount (e.g., a checking or savings account), and/or the like. Thetransaction account may include a transaction instrument such as acharge card, credit card, debit card, awards card, prepaid card,telephone card, smart card, magnetic stripe card, bar code card,transponder, radio frequency card and/or the like having an accountnumber, which cardholders typically present to Service Establishments(SEs), as part of a transaction, such as a purchase. An “accountnumber”, as used herein, includes any device, code, number, letter,symbol, digital certificate, smart chip, digital signal, analog signal,biometric or other identifier/indicia suitably configured to allow theconsumer to interact or communicate with the system, such as, forexample, authorization/access code, personal identification number(PIN), Internet code, other identification code, and/or the like whichis optionally located on card. The account number may be distributed andstored in any form of plastic, electronic, magnetic, radio frequency,wireless, audio and/or optical device capable of transmitting ordownloading data from itself to a second device. A customer accountnumber may be, for example, a sixteen-digit credit card number, althougheach credit provider has its own numbering system, such as thefifteen-digit numbering system used by American Express. Each company'scredit card numbers comply with that company's standardized format suchthat the company using a sixteen-digit format will generally use fourspaced sets of numbers, as represented by the number “0000 0000 00000000”. The first five to seven digits are reserved for processingpurposes and identify the issuing bank, card type and etc. In thisexample, the last sixteenth digit is used as a sum check for thesixteen-digit number. The intermediary eight-to-ten digits are used touniquely identify the customer.

In various embodiments, an account number may identify a consumer. Inaddition, in various embodiments, a consumer may be identified by avariety of identifiers, including, for example, an email address, atelephone number, a cookie id, a biometric, and the like.

The system may include or interface with any of the foregoing accounts,devices, and/or a transponder and reader in BLE communication with thetransponder (which may include a fob), or communications between aninitiator and a target enabled by short range communications protocols.Typical devices may include, for example, a key ring, tag, card, cellphone, wristwatch or any such form capable of being presented forinterrogation. Moreover, the system, computing unit or device discussedherein may include a “pervasive computing device,” which may include atraditionally non-computerized device that is embedded with a computingunit. Examples may include watches, Internet enabled kitchen appliances,restaurant tables embedded with RF readers, wallets or purses withimbedded transponders, etc. Furthermore, a device or financialtransaction instrument may have electronic and communicationsfunctionality enabled, for example, by: a network of electroniccircuitry that is printed or otherwise incorporated onto or within thetransaction instrument (and typically referred to as a “smart card”); afob having a transponder and an RFID reader; and/or near fieldcommunication (NFC) technologies.

Phrases and terms similar to “transaction” may include any purchase,exchange, lease, rental, deal, agreement, authorization, settlement,information exchange, item exchange, a record of charge (or “ROC”),record of transaction (“ROT”), including all related data and metadata,and/or the like. Moreover, the transaction, information associated withthe transaction, and/or a record associated with the transaction maycomprise a unique identifier associated with a transaction. Atransaction may, in various embodiments, be performed by one or moreaccount holders using a transaction account. The transaction account maybe associated with a transaction instrument such as, for example, a giftcard, a debit card, a credit card, and the like. A record associatedwith the transaction may, in addition, contain details such as location,merchant name or identifier, transaction amount, transaction date,account number, account security pin or code, account expiry date, andthe like for the transaction.

In various embodiments, the methods described herein are implementedusing the various particular machines described herein. The methodsdescribed herein may be implemented using the below particular machines,and those hereinafter developed, in any suitable combination, as wouldbe appreciated immediately by one skilled in the art. Further, as isunambiguous from this disclosure, the methods described herein mayresult in various transformations of certain articles.

The present system or any part(s) or function(s) thereof may beimplemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof and may beimplemented in one or more computer systems or other processing systems.However, the manipulations performed by embodiments were often referredto in terms, such as matching or selecting, which are commonlyassociated with mental operations performed by a human operator. No suchcapability of a human operator is necessary, or desirable in most cases,in any of the operations described herein. Rather, the operations may bemachine operations. Useful machines for performing the variousembodiments include general purpose digital computers or similardevices.

In various embodiments, the embodiments are directed toward one or morecomputer systems capable of carrying out the functionality describedherein. The computer system includes one or more processors, such asprocessor. The processor is connected to a communication infrastructure(e.g., a communications bus, cross over bar, or network). Varioussoftware embodiments are described in terms of this exemplary computersystem. After reading this description, it will become apparent to aperson skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement variousembodiments using other computer systems and/or architectures. Computersystem can include a display interface that forwards graphics, text, andother data from the communication infrastructure (or from a frame buffernot shown) for display on a display unit.

Conventional data networking, application development and otherfunctional aspects of the systems (and components of the individualoperating components of the systems) may not be described in detailherein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the various figurescontained herein are intended to represent exemplary functionalrelationships and/or physical couplings between the various elements. Itshould be noted that many alternative or additional functionalrelationships or physical connections may be present in a practicalsystem.

The various system components discussed herein may include one or moreof the following: a host server or other computing systems including aprocessor for processing digital data; a memory coupled to the processorfor storing digital data; an input digitizer coupled to the processorfor inputting digital data; an application program stored in the memoryand accessible by the processor for directing processing of digital databy the processor; a display device coupled to the processor and memoryfor displaying information derived from digital data processed by theprocessor; and a plurality of databases. Various databases used hereinmay include: client data; merchant data; financial institution data;and/or like data useful in the operation of the system. As those skilledin the art will appreciate, user computer may include an operatingsystem (e.g., Windows operating system, UNIX®, Linux®, Solaris®, MacOS,etc.) as well as various conventional support software and driverstypically associated with computers.

Computer system also includes a main memory, such as for example randomaccess memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory. Thesecondary memory may include, for example, a hard disk drive and/or aremovable storage drive, representing a floppy disk drive, a magnetictape drive, an optical disk drive, etc. The removable storage drivereads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit in a well-knownmanner. Removable storage unit represents a floppy disk, magnetic tape,optical disk, etc. which is read by and written to by removable storagedrive. As will be appreciated, the removable storage unit includes acomputer usable storage medium having stored therein computer softwareand/or data.

In various embodiments, secondary memory may include other similardevices for allowing computer programs or other instructions to beloaded into computer system. Such devices may include, for example, aremovable storage unit and an interface. Examples of such may include aprogram cartridge and cartridge interface (such as that found in videogame devices), a removable memory chip (such as an erasable programmableread only memory (EPROM), or programmable read only memory (PROM)) andassociated socket, and other removable storage units and interfaces,which allow software and data to be transferred from the removablestorage unit to computer system.

The terms “computer program medium” and “computer usable medium” and“computer readable medium” are used to generally refer to media such asremovable storage drive and a hard disk installed in hard disk drive.These computer program products provide software to computer system.

Computer programs (also referred to as computer control logic) arestored in main memory and/or secondary memory. Computer programs mayalso be received via communications interface. Such computer programs,when executed, enable the computer system to perform the features asdiscussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed,enable the processor to perform the features of various embodiments.Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of thecomputer system.

In various embodiments, software may be stored in a computer programproduct and loaded into computer system using removable storage drive,hard disk drive or communications interface. The control logic(software), when executed by the processor, causes the processor toperform the functions of various embodiments as described herein. Invarious embodiments, hardware components such as application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs). Implementation of the hardware statemachine so as to perform the functions described herein will be apparentto persons skilled in the relevant art(s).

Practitioners will appreciate that a web client may or may not be indirect contact with an application server. For example, a web client mayaccess the services of an application server through another serverand/or hardware component, which may have a direct or indirectconnection to an Internet server. For example, a web client maycommunicate with an application server via a load balancer. In anexemplary embodiment, access is through a network or the Internetthrough a commercially-available web-browser software package.

In various embodiments, components, modules, and/or engines of systemsmay be implemented as micro-applications or micro-apps. Micro-apps aretypically deployed in the context of a mobile operating system,including for example, a Palm® mobile operating system, a Windows®mobile operating system, an Android® Operating System, Apple® iOS, aBlackberry® operating system and the like. The micro-app may beconfigured to leverage the resources of the larger operating system andassociated hardware via a set of predetermined rules which govern theoperations of various operating systems and hardware resources. Forexample, where a micro-app desires to communicate with a device ornetwork other than the mobile device or mobile operating system, themicro-app may leverage the communication protocol of the operatingsystem and associated device hardware under the predetermined rules ofthe mobile operating system. Moreover, where the micro-app desires aninput from a user, the micro-app may be configured to request a responsefrom the operating system which monitors various hardware components andthen communicates a detected input from the hardware to the micro-app.

As used herein, the term “network” includes any cloud, cloud computingsystem or electronic communications system or method which incorporateshardware and/or software components. Communication among the parties maybe accomplished through any suitable communication channels, such as,for example, a telephone network, an extranet, an intranet, Internet,point of interaction device (point of sale device, personal digitalassistant (e.g., iPhone®, Palm Pilot®, Blackberry®), cellular phone,kiosk, etc.), online communications, satellite communications, off-linecommunications, wireless communications, transponder communications,local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), virtual privatenetwork (VPN), networked or linked devices, keyboard, mouse and/or anysuitable communication or data input modality. Moreover, although thesystem is frequently described herein as being implemented with TCP/IPcommunications protocols, the system may also be implemented using IPX,Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI, any tunneling protocol (e.g. IPsec, SSH),or any number of existing or future protocols. If the network is in thenature of a public network, such as the Internet, it may be advantageousto presume the network to be insecure and open to eavesdroppers.Specific information related to the protocols, standards, andapplication software utilized in connection with the Internet isgenerally known to those skilled in the art and, as such, need not bedetailed herein.

The various system components may be independently, separately orcollectively suitably coupled to the network via data links whichincludes, for example, a connection to an Internet Service Provider(ISP) over the local loop as is typically used in connection withstandard modem communication, cable modem, Dish Networks®, ISDN, DigitalSubscriber Line (DSL), or various wireless communication methods, see,e.g., GILBERT HELD, UNDERSTANDING DATA COMMUNICATIONS (1996), which ishereby incorporated by reference. It is noted that the network may beimplemented as other types of networks, such as an interactivetelevision (ITV) network. Moreover, the system contemplates the use,sale or distribution of any goods, services or information over anynetwork having similar functionality described herein.

“Cloud” or “Cloud computing” includes a model for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services)that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal managementeffort or service provider interaction. Cloud computing may includelocation-independent computing, whereby shared servers provideresources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand.For more information regarding cloud computing, see the NIST's (NationalInstitute of Standards and Technology) definition of cloud computing athttp://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf (lastvisited June 2012), which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

As used herein, “transmit” may include sending electronic data from onesystem component to another over a network connection. Additionally, asused herein, “data” may include encompassing information such ascommands, queries, files, data for storage, and the like in digital orany other form.

Phrases and terms similar to an “item” may include any good, service,information, experience, data, discount, rebate, points, virtualcurrency, content, access, rental, lease, contribution, account, credit,debit, benefit, right, reward, points, coupons, credits, monetaryequivalent, anything of value, something of minimal or no value,monetary value, non-monetary value and/or the like. Moreover, the“transactions” or “purchases” discussed herein may be associated with anitem. Furthermore, a “reward” may be an item.

Phrases and terms similar to “transaction” may include any purchase,authorization, settlement, a record of charge (or “ROC”), record oftransaction (“ROT”) and/or the like. Moreover, the transaction,information associated with the transaction, and/or a record associatedwith the transaction may comprise a unique identifier associated with atransaction. A transaction may, in various embodiments, be performed byone or more members using a transaction account, such as a transactionaccount associated with a transaction account such as, for example, agift card, a debit card, a credit card, and the like. A recordassociated with the transaction may, in addition, contain details suchas location, merchant name or identifier, transaction amount,transaction date, account number, account security pin or code, accountexpiry date, and the like for the transaction.

One skilled in the art will also appreciate that, for security reasons,any databases, systems, devices, servers or other components of thesystem may consist of any combination thereof at a single location or atmultiple locations, wherein each database or system includes any ofvarious suitable security features, such as firewalls, access codes,encryption, decryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like.

Encryption may be performed by way of any of the techniques nowavailable in the art or which may become available—e.g., Twofish, RSA,El Gamal, Schorr signature, DSA, PGP, PKI, GPG (GnuPG), and symmetricand asymmetric cryptosystems.

The computing unit of the web client may be further equipped with anInternet browser connected to the Internet or an intranet using standarddial-up, cable, DSL or any other Internet protocol known in the art.Transactions originating at a web client may pass through a firewall inorder to prevent unauthorized access from users of other networks.Further, additional firewalls may be deployed between the varyingcomponents of CMS to further enhance security.

Any of the communications, inputs, storage, databases or displaysdiscussed herein may be facilitated through a website having web pages.The term “web page” as it is used herein is not meant to limit the typeof documents and applications that might be used to interact with theuser. For example, a typical website might include, in addition tostandard HTML documents, various forms, Java applets, JavaScript, activeserver pages (ASP), common gateway interface scripts (CGI), extensiblemarkup language (XML), dynamic HTML, cascading style sheets (CSS), AJAX(Asynchronous Javascript And XML), helper applications, plug-ins, andthe like. A server may include a web service that receives a requestfrom a web server, the request including a URL(http://yahoo.com/stockquotes/ge) and an IP address (123.56.789.234).The web server retrieves the appropriate web pages and sends the data orapplications for the web pages to the IP address. Web services areapplications that are capable of interacting with other applicationsover a communications means, such as the internet. Web services aretypically based on standards or protocols such as XML, SOAP, AJAX, WSDLand UDDI. Web services methods are well known in the art, and arecovered in many standard texts. See, e.g., ALEX NGHIEM, IT WEB SERVICES:A ROADMAP FOR THE ENTERPRISE (2003), hereby incorporated by reference.

Middleware may include any hardware and/or software suitably configuredto facilitate communications and/or process transactions betweendisparate computing systems. Middleware components are commerciallyavailable and known in the art. Middleware may be implemented throughcommercially available hardware and/or software, through custom hardwareand/or software components, or through a combination thereof. Middlewaremay reside in a variety of configurations and may exist as a standalonesystem or may be a software component residing on the Internet server.Middleware may be configured to process transactions between the variouscomponents of an application server and any number of internal orexternal systems for any of the purposes disclosed herein. WebSphere MQ™(formerly MQSeries) by IBM, Inc. (Armonk, N.Y.) is an example of acommercially available middleware product. An Enterprise Service Bus(“ESB”) application is another example of middleware.

Practitioners will also appreciate that there are a number of methodsfor displaying data within a browser-based document. Data may berepresented as standard text or within a fixed list, scrollable list,drop-down list, editable text field, fixed text field, pop-up window,and the like. Likewise, there are a number of methods available formodifying data in a web page such as, for example, free text entry usinga keyboard, selection of menu items, check boxes, option boxes, and thelike.

The system and method may be described herein in terms of functionalblock components, screen shots, optional selections and variousprocessing steps. It should be appreciated that such functional blocksmay be realized by any number of hardware and/or software componentsconfigured to perform the specified functions. For example, the systemmay employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements,processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, whichmay carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or moremicroprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the softwareelements of the system may be implemented with any programming orscripting language with the various algorithms being implemented withany combination of data structures, objects, processes, routines orother programming elements. Further, it should be noted that the systemmay employ any number of conventional techniques for data transmission,signaling, data processing, network control, and the like. Stillfurther, the system could be used to detect or prevent security issueswith a client-side scripting language. For a basic introduction ofcryptography and network security, see any of the following references:(1) “Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In C,”by Bruce Schneier, published by John Wiley & Sons (second edition,1995); (2) “Java Cryptography” by Jonathan Knudson, published byO'Reilly & Associates (1998); (3) “Cryptography & Network Security:Principles & Practice” by William Stallings, published by Prentice Hall;all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

The electronic commerce system may be implemented at the customer andissuing bank. In an exemplary implementation, the electronic commercesystem is implemented as computer software modules loaded onto thecustomer computer and the banking computing center. The merchantcomputer does not require any additional software to participate in theonline commerce transactions supported by the online commerce system.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the systemmay be embodied as a customization of an existing system, an add-onproduct, a processing apparatus executing upgraded software, astandalone system, a distributed system, a method, a data processingsystem, a device for data processing, and/or a computer program product.Accordingly, any portion of the system or a module may take the form ofa processing apparatus executing code, an internet based embodiment, anentirely hardware embodiment, or an embodiment combining aspects of theinternet, software and hardware. Furthermore, the system may take theform of a computer program product on a computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer-readable program code means embodied in the storagemedium. Any suitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized,including hard disks, CD-ROM, optical storage devices, magnetic storagedevices, and/or the like.

The system and method is described herein with reference to screenshots, block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus(e.g., systems), and computer program products according to variousembodiments. It will be understood that each functional block of theblock diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, and combinations offunctional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations,respectively, can be implemented by computer program instructions.

Functional blocks of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrationssupport combinations of means for performing the specified functions,combinations of steps for performing the specified functions, andprogram instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each functional block of the block diagramsand flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks inthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented byeither special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform thespecified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions. Further, illustrations ofthe process flows and the descriptions thereof may make reference touser windows, webpages, websites, web forms, prompts, etc. Practitionerswill appreciate that the illustrated steps described herein may comprisein any number of configurations including the use of windows, webpages,web forms, popup windows, prompts and the like. It should be furtherappreciated that the multiple steps as illustrated and described may becombined into single webpages and/or windows but have been expanded forthe sake of simplicity. In other cases, steps illustrated and describedas single process steps may be separated into multiple webpages and/orwindows but have been combined for simplicity.

The term “non-transitory” is to be understood to remove only propagatingtransitory signals per se from the claim scope and does not relinquishrights to all standard computer-readable media that are not onlypropagating transitory signals per se. Stated another way, the meaningof the term “non-transitory computer-readable medium” and“non-transitory computer-readable storage medium” should be construed toexclude only those types of transitory computer-readable media whichwere found in In Re Nuijten to fall outside the scope of patentablesubject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

Systems, methods and computer program products are provided. In thedetailed description herein, references to “various embodiments”, “oneembodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an example embodiment”, etc., indicatethat the embodiment described may include a particular feature,structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarilyinclude the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover,such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment.Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic isdescribed in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it iswithin the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature,structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodimentswhether or not explicitly described. After reading the description, itwill be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implementthe disclosure in alternative embodiments.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed herein with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any elements that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of the disclosure. The scope of the disclosure isaccordingly to be limited by nothing other than the appended claims, inwhich reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean“one and only one” unless explicitly so stated, but rather “one ormore.” Moreover, where a phrase similar to ‘at least one of A, B, and C’or ‘at least one of A, B, or C’ is used in the claims or specification,it is intended that the phrase be interpreted to mean that A alone maybe present in an embodiment, B alone may be present in an embodiment, Calone may be present in an embodiment, or that any combination of theelements A, B and C may be present in a single embodiment; for example,A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C. Although the disclosureincludes a method, it is contemplated that it may be embodied ascomputer program instructions on a tangible computer-readable carrier,such as a magnetic or optical memory or a magnetic or optical disk. Allstructural, chemical, and functional equivalents to the elements of theabove-described exemplary embodiments that are known to those ofordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by referenceand are intended to be encompassed by the present claims. Moreover, itis not necessary for a device or method to address each and everyproblem sought to be solved by the present disclosure, for it to beencompassed by the present claims.

Furthermore, no element, component, or method step in the presentdisclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless ofwhether the element, component, or method step is explicitly recited inthe claims. No claim element herein is to be construed under theprovisions of 35 U.S.C. 112 (f) unless the element is expressly recitedusing the phrase “means for.” As used herein, the terms “comprises”,“comprising”, or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover anon-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: determining, by a computerbased system, a micro-location of a Bluetooth low energy (“BLE”) beaconwithin a facility of a merchant; transmitting, by the computer basedsystem and to a user device, merchant information associated with theBLE beacon; transmitting, by the computer based system and to a merchantsystem and based on the merchant information, a request to conduct atransaction from the user device, wherein the request includes anaccount number associated with a user of the user device; andinitiating, by the computer based system, the transaction for atransaction amount and using the account number.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein in response to detecting a transmission from the BLE beacon,the user device automatically launches a merchant application.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the user device detects a BLE beaconidentifier and a merchant application is automatically initiated inresponse to the user device detecting the BLE beacon identifier.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the user device is a smart phone thatincludes a merchant application.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein amerchant application on the user device recognizes the BLE beacon andcreates instructions for the request to conduct the transaction.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the computer basedsystem, a confirmation from the merchant system to confirm thetransaction and the transaction amount.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising receiving, by the computer based system and from theBLE beacon, a BLE beacon identifier associated with the BLE beacon, inresponse to the user device being within a defined distance from the BLEbeacon, wherein the BLE beacon identifier is associated with themerchant system.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving,by the computer based system and from a merchant application, a useridentifier associated with the user device, in response to the userdevice being within a defined distance from the BLE beacon.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the BLE beacon is located near a merchantterminal.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein a merchant applicationcompletes a payment with the merchant system.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein a merchant application on the user device activates a Bluetoothradio that passively listens to Bluetooth broadcasts from the BLE beaconassociated with the merchant system.
 12. The method of claim 1, whereina BLE beacon identifier is registered with a micro-registry.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, wherein a BLE beacon identifier is registered with amicro-registry, and wherein the micro-registry is in a cloud.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, wherein a micro-registry comprises information for aplurality of BLE beacon identifiers and a plurality of merchant systems.15. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the micro-location ofthe BLE beacon is based on information associated with the BLE beacon ina micro-registry.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein an image of theuser associated with the user device is displayed on the merchantsystem.
 17. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by thecomputer based system and from the merchant system, a preliminarytransaction amount to charge the account number; transmitting, by thecomputer based system and to the user device, the preliminarytransaction amount; and receiving, by the computer based system and fromthe user device, a confirmation of the transaction amount, wherein thetransaction amount is the preliminary transaction amount as modified bythe user.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the preliminarytransaction amount also includes item information.
 19. A systemcomprising: a processor; and a tangible, non-transitory memoryconfigured to communicate with the processor, the tangible,non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, inresponse to execution by the processor, cause the processor to performoperations comprising: determining, by the processor, a micro-locationof a Bluetooth low energy (“BLE”) beacon within a facility of amerchant; transmitting, by the processor and to a user device, merchantinformation associated with the BLE beacon; transmitting, by theprocessor and to a merchant system and based on the merchantinformation, a request to conduct a transaction from the user device,wherein the request includes an account number associated with a user ofthe user device; and initiating, by the processor, the transaction for atransaction amount and using the account number.
 20. An article ofmanufacture including a non-transitory, tangible computer readablestorage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response toexecution by a computer-based system, cause the computer-based system toperform operations comprising: determining, by the computer basedsystem, a micro-location of a Bluetooth low energy (“BLE”) beacon withina facility of a merchant; transmitting, by the computer based system andto a user device, merchant information associated with the BLE beacon;transmitting, by the computer based system and to a merchant system andbased on the merchant information, a request to conduct a transactionfrom the user device, wherein the request includes an account numberassociated with a user of the user device; and initiating, by thecomputer based system, the transaction for a transaction amount andusing the account number.